ERIC ED456024: Linking Science Education to Labour Markets: Issues and Strategies. Secondary Education Series.

26 Pages·2000·0.35 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
SE 064 955
ED 456 024
Lewin, Keith M.
AUTHOR
Linking Science Education to Labour Markets: Issues and
TITLE
Strategies. Secondary Education Series.
World Bank, Washington, DC. Human Development Network.
INSTITUTION
2000-00-00
PUB DATE
NOTE
25p.
Education Advisory Service, Human Development Network, The
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Developing Nations; Economic Factors; *Educational Change;
DESCRIPTORS
Foreign Countries; *Labor Market; *Science Education;
Secondary Education
Economic Growth
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
During the last 35 years, due to the globalization of the
world economy and developing technologies, a considerable change has occurred
in secondary education. This publication explores the extent to which the
development of science education should be linked to labor markets in
"Science Education, Labor Markets
developing countries. Sections include:
(1)
"Arguments for Links of SET [science education and
and Economic Growth";
(2)
"Arguments against Links with Labor
training] to Labor Markets";
(3)
"A Labor Market Metaphor for Science Education";
Markets";
(5)
(4)
"Strategies for Linking Science Education to Labor Markets"; and (6)
"Concluding Remarks." (Contains 16 references.)
(YDS)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
SECONDARY EDUCATION SERIES
LINKING SCIENCE EDUCATION TO
LABOUR MARKETS: ISSUES AND STRATEGIES
Keith M. Lewin
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World Bank, Human Development Network
Secondary Education Series
Linking Science Education to
Labour Markets:
Issues and Strategies
Keith M Lewin
The World Bank
Washington, DC
3
© 2000 The World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2000
Papers in this series are not formal publications of the World Bank. The findings,
interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author(s) and
should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its.affiliated organizations or to
members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. For free cOpies of
this paper, please contact the Education Advisory Service, Human Development Network, The
World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433-0002. E-mail:
[email protected], or visit the website at www.worldbank.org.
Contents
ii
Forward
iii
About the Author
Introduction
1
Science Education, Labour Markets and Economic Growth
1
4
Arguments for Links of SET to Labour Markets
Arguments against Links with Labour Markets
8
A Labour Market Metaphor for Science Education
1 1
Strategies for Linking Science Education to Labour Markets
1 3
Concluding Remarks
1 4
References
1 5
5
Forward
Welcome to the Secondary Education Series of the Human Development Network, Education
Group at the World Bank.
The World Bank has been assisting developing countries in their efforts to reform their
secondary education systems for more than 35 years. During this period, the context and
imperatives for education reform have changed considerably due to various factors such as
globalization of the world economy and the impact of neW technologies. This new environment
requires rethinking the traditional way of providing secondary education and training systems
and both industrializing and industrialized countries are grappling how best to prepare their
youth to become productive workforce as well as responsible citizens. Thus, this series'will
address a wide range of topics within secondary education that reflect the challenges that we are
facing now.
This paper, "Linking Science Education to Labour Markets: Issues and Strategies" is the
third publication in the Secondary Education Series. Along with the second publication in this
series, "Mapping Science Education Policies in Developing Countries", this paper was originally
prepared for the workshop, the Secondary Science Education for Development
(http://wwwl.worldbank.orgieducation/scied/Training/training.htm), which was organized by
the Education Group in April 2000. The workshop aimed to explore some of the issues involved
in science education reform within a larger context of social and economic development. We
hope these two new volumes will provide with opportunities to further explore these issues with
our clients. We welcome your comments.
World Bank
Human Development Network
Education Group
August 2000
About the Author
Professor Keith M Lewin (e-mail: [email protected]) is the Director of the Centre for
International Education, University of Sussex in England and holds a Chair in the Institute of
Education. He has twenty five years of experience in education reform in Asia and Africa. He
also co-authored the book with Francois Cailloid and Gabrielle Gottelman-Duret, Science
Education and Development: Planning and Policy Issues at Secondary Level (IIEP/Pergamon,
1997), from which this paper was developed.
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which the development of science
education should be linked to labour markets in developing countries. As with many
other areas of the curriculum there are tensions between those who argue that the
structure of knowledge and ways of knowing should be the basis for the curriculum, and
those who emphasise the importance of shaping curricula around students understandings
and motivations and the utility of what is learned. This paper is in five sections. First, it
presents four general observations .about the roles science and technology have played in
the development process. Second, it directly addresses the case for linking science
education to labour markets. Third it considers some of the counter propositions which
are advanced to oppose closer links. Fourth, a speculative metaphor is develolied to
suggest one way in which science education could evolve to resonate more closely with
skills and competencies associated with some forms of production. Fifth, specific
strategies for links are suggested.
Science Education, Labour Markets and Economic Growth
Development has at its core transformations in economic activity, living conditions and
values that generate social change. For these to be judged to be developmental there has
to be some consensus that some conditions of life are preferable to others. Thus, it can be
argued that there is some agreement that freedom from disease is beneficial, adequate
nutrition and food security are basic human needs that should be met everywhere, and
improvements in the material conditions of life are desirable, e.g., access to adequate
housing, clothing, communications, energy. Some would add to this an increasing long
list of human rights that need to be satisfied, e.g., the right to education, a sustainable
livelihood, the rule of law, equitable access to public services, and fair income
distribution. The longer the list, the more contentious some of its components may be.
The arguments in this paper are based on accepting that material well-being resulting
from economic growth is a valued objective, productive employment or self employment
is a necessary condition for growth, and investment in education and training is a
necessary, but not sufficient, condition to promote development linked to increased
productivity.
A simple view of development suggests that its basis is some combination of the
ability to transform the physical environment, coupled with changes in how groups of
people choose to organise themselves. These lie at the core of the development process.
Development is therefore both a technological process and a cultural and socio-economic
shift to more, rather than less, valued conditions of life. This paper focuses on science
education and training' (SET) and its possible role in contributing to development
through its links to employment and the application of science-based ideas. Four
This paper uses the term "science education and training" (SET) to include technological application of
science. Its position is one which sees science education as part of a continuum with what is sometimes
separately identified as technology education. Arguably technologised science education and science-based
technology education share similar educational objectives and content.
observations set the scene for more specific consideration of links between SET and
labour markets.
First, history contains a myriad examples of how economic development and
social change have been associated intimately with changes in technology (see e.g.
Diamond 1999). The development of agriculture released populations from lifestyles
based on hunting and gathering, which at best were precarious. It enabled cultures to
develop that generated surpluses and allowed complex patterns of social organisation to
flower. Stable civilisations developed language, writing and mathematics that enabled an
accumulation of ideas across generations and promoted ways of systematically improving
the capacity to manipulate the physical environment. Large scale irrigation became
feasible, metal based tool making became sophisticated, the construction of towns and
cities became possible. The simple point is that without the development of technologies
much if not all of this development would have been impossible. What distinguished
those populations that developed complex civilisation at an early date from those that did
not, was a combination of technological accumulation and innovation, acting in concert
with other conditions (social stability, geographically favourable locations, purposeful
leadership). Early technological innovation occurred before the development of what is
now recognised as science. Nevertheless, such innovation did depend on what are now
recognised as scientific thinking skills and sowed the seeds for the development of more
and more systematic methods of enquiry into the natural world. The long sweep of
history intrigues with many unresolved debates about the relationships between
technology and development. The motives for technological development may well have
been mixed. Some may be explained as enlightened attempts to improve the living
conditions of individuals and communities. Others were more obviously related to the
imperatives of war and conquest. The point here is that any historical account of
development has to recognise the key role played by changing technologies. These
technologies are shared and refined through what are essentially education and training
processes.
Second, a brief reflection on the industrial revolution is relevant. Industrialisation
from the
rapid development in
benefited
first
those
countries that
generated
transformation of rural, agrarian-based production to economies based on manufactured
goods (see e.g. Landes 1999, Landes 1969). The technologies that drove industrialisation
may not have been the direct consequence of science as then practised. Many of the first
innovators were poorly educated and practically, rather than theoretically, orientated. As
the process unfolded it became clear that technological innovation increased in
complexity and benefited from an understanding of the underlying science. Later
generations of innovation, which resulted in comparative advantages in production, began
to acquire the character of designed solutions to well specified problems explored using
the intellectual and empirical tools for enquiry associated with science. The more it
became possible to design solutions to production problems, the more successful and
efficient the development process could be. Thus it became possible to design and build
structures with more predictable properties, synthesise materials to substitute for natural
products and create new materials, and act to reduce disease based on knowledge of its
causes. No longer was it necessary to depend on trial and error.
2
Third, more recently there is at least suggestive evidence that the East Asian
countries that developed rapidly in the latter part of the 20th century benefited from a
highly educated labour force which had a relatively high level of skill endowment that
was formally acquired (World Bank 1993). Basic education was well established and
near universal in advance of periods of rapid economic growth. Most, but not all, of these
countries invested substantially in secondary schooling, which included SET. Much of
the export led growth that they experienced was in high value added products with high
knowledge content. Many of these products and the associated production processes had
a scientific and technological base. The story of rapid development in these countries is
complex and not all of the factors advanced to explain their success relate to investment
in science and technology. However it is clear that some do, and that without such
investment in SET, growth would have been compromised.
Fourth, globalisation is changing ways in which production is organised and the
characteristics of labour markets. This has implications for SET. Development is
associated with changes in the proportions of the labour force employed in agriculture,
manufacturing, and services. Links between SET and the labour market have to be
conceived in terms of the proportions of employment in the different sectors, and the
nature of the production process. Strikingly the development of new information and
communication technologies (ICTs) is transforming production and employment (Dicken
1998). Manufacturing and services increasingly depend on knowledge-based work
dependent on ICTs. This has created demands in developing countries for highly skilled
professionals who can provide ICT based services competitively and who may market
these internationally. It has also facilitated the migration of lower level jobs based on
information processing to developing countries. The "digital divide" between countries is
becoming and increasing matter of concern. Though the adoption of ICTs is not directly
related to SET, the infrastructure on which ICTs depend is. So also, at least in part, is the
development of software which depends on the logical thinking and deductive reasoning
can be
information and
associated with SET. Leading countries
the
in
that
communication revolution all have quality SET systems. The links between investment in
SET and the use of ICTs may be diffuse, rather than specific. It is difficult to suppose that
they are unimportant.
These preliminary observations lead to the following propOsition. Economic
development is widely associated with advances in technology. Technology benefits from
investment in SET, though clearly the constructive application of technology depends on
many other things. Linking SET to application . and skill, and hence to competencies
valued in labour markets, appears to have a wide range of possible benefits. We now turn
to consider specific arguments for and against promoting links between SET and the
labour market.